Nicola Sturgeon opens up on harrowing miscarriage in new book
Nicola Sturgeon has opened up about her miscarriage and about how she was "deeply conflicted" about becoming a mother.
The former first minister revealed how the loss of her baby would be something she would always mourn, in her book published in The Times.
In heartbreaking detail, she described how she and her estranged husband Peter Murrell painfully lost their unborn child in 2011. The ex-SNP leader also said she would have named the child Isla Margaret, in tribute to her grandmother.
Her account of her loss has been recounted in brutal honesty in extracts from her new book, Frankly, due to be released next week.
She described the moment she found out she was pregnant with Peter being "overjoyed". However, she struggled more to be happy about it and wrote how she still feels guilty about that.
She admitted she thought the timing was terrible, as she would be six months pregnant during the 2011 election, when she was Deputy First Minister under Alex Salmond.
She said was obsessed with work and had believed the the timing couldn't have been worse. Even 15 years later, she feels the loss was in part 'a punishment' for those thoughts.
On her miscarriage, she recalled going to Glasgow Royal Infirmary for a check-up, and suddenly she felt herself wanting the pregnancy, but she knew the child was gone.
Four several days Sturgeon says she was in pain and by January 4, 2011, the pregnancy passed.
Together the couple flushed their baby away. She recalls how they planned to try again, but she knew that their one chance was lost, adding that she will carry grief of losing their baby girl forever.
The politician admits in her book that she would choose to have a child if she could go back but doesn't believe her life is any less valuable.
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Nicola Sturgeon first spoke publicly about her miscarriage in 2016, after years of media speculation about her private life and childlessness with former SNP chief executive Peter.
She was attending a memorial for the 66 victims of the Ibrox disaster but told Loose Women in 2023 that she was photographed while 'still having a miscarriage.'
In 2016, she released a statement saying, 'This was a painful experience for Peter and me, and while Mandy has known for some time, she respected our choice not to discuss it publicly.
'I gave her permission to mention it now, hoping to challenge assumptions and judgments faced by women — especially in politics — who don't have children.'
Sturgeon expressed hope that sharing her story would help create a future where 'these issues are treated as entirely personal.'
She explained that "sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn't happen — no matter how much it's wanted.
'For me, like many women, all these things have been true at different times. The key is that no assumptions or judgments should be made about deeply personal decisions and experiences.'
Nicola Sturgeon 2025. Extracted from Frankly by Nicola Sturgeon (Macmillan £28), published on Thursday.
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